Borne of Caution

Act 3: Chapter 1

"We've much to speak about, the three of us."

"We do?" are the first words to blurt from Lee's mouth.

Above, the great, shifting shadow leans in closer, looming over the trembling man and fox.

"Yes."

Lee licks his lips, but finds that they remain dry, much like his throat. His shaking hands hold Ninetales tightly, trying to soothe the unsettlingly intense terror ripping through her. "I-I take it you were the one trying to reach out to me? To us? Over the last few weeks?"

As he speaks, Lee vainly tries to inspect the dark shape that he knows is Giratina, but looks nothing like how his memory says Giratina should look. No matter what angle, what feature he focuses on, the mind-bending form before him remains painful to look at.

"Indeed."

Giratina's blood-red irises, of which Lee sees two, but swears there are more, shift between them.

"You are owed answers. Answers I would have given freely upon the beginning."

"Twas not my wish to leave you with so little, but I am not The Original One, my Father and Brother. Blessings and boons aplenty are not within my sphere. I am His antithesis, born to balance scales. Create I cannot, only transform, cycling old into new."

Lee shakes his head, timidly looking up into the red eyes once more. "I don't understand what you're talking about. Are you… Are you the one who brought me back to life? Are you the reason I am here?"

He thinks harder, trying to connect Giratina's words to his new life, and his mind goes back to the very first day, when he discovered Vulpix in his pocket… And noticed the data in his emulator corrupted.

No, not corrupted. Missing. Displaced.

Ninetales, who follows his thoughts, gasps softly, her eyes going wide.

"Did you create Ninetales?" Lee quietly asks.

The golden, mandible-like jaw below Giratina's eyes flexes slightly, and the great dragon regards Lee and Ninetales with a tilt of its head.

"I do not create, only recycle."

Despite Giratina's words, the unspoken yes to all of Lee's questions is plain. There is a tiny, selfish part of Lee that flares with reactionary resentment, cursing Giratina for putting him through so much when he could be peacefully dead alongside his family and friends. If the god before him had kept to itself, then so much heartache would have been neatly sidestepped.

The warm fur pressed to his side reminds him what he has gained in return, however. Lee holds Ninetales close, balming her frayed nerves with his presence.

"Why?" is all Lee can ask.

Giratina's mandibles shiver, producing no sound.

"I am Giratina, The Antithesis, The Renegade, The Opposite Side of the Great Scale. We are all part of His Plan, one of delicate balance and lockstep. His Plan is perfect, and leads to perfection, just as He is, but all worlds of monsters and men are discord."

Black wings are unfurled, like how a man might spread his arms for emphasis.

"The Original One is static, unbending, for perfection is an unchanging state. The solution to all problems He faces is to create, to gift, to combine, but never take, for such an action is unthinkable to Him. His Plan is absolute, but even He could not predict the actions of his children, both fleeting and perpetual, nor could He intuit the consequence of birthing Will, Knowledge, and Emotion to bequeath upon them. None could."

The wings fold.

"The variables are beyond countless, but the Plan cannot be allowed to deviate; all must play their part to see it done. Already, He has exerted himself to correct the path, but it will not be enough. Another push, from another direction, was required."

The dots begin to connect, and the cold relaxation that settles over Lee is even worse than the chilled dark all around. "I'm that push, aren't I?"

Giratina's stare is inscrutable. Is it annoyance? Sympathy? Some emotion behind them? Or is it nothing at all?

"Just as I balance scales, so do you."

"Why?" Lee asks again. His heart thunders, and he knows he should be lightheaded, but here in this place, all but the feeling of Ninetales' fur seems muted. "What's so special about me?"

"Nothing."

The curt answer is so jarring, so unexpected, that both Lee and Ninetales blink in confusion, prompting the great wyrm to continue.

"I am The Antimatter Pokemon,The Antithesis to The Original One. All He creates, I one day take."

Giratina curls around Lee and Ninetales, wrapping them in coils of dark as thick as ink. The darkness is so oppressive that all that can be seen is the hellish eyes hovering close.

Neither Lee nor Ninetales can hope to look away, no matter how much they wish to.

"I am known by countless names across all times and places. Giratina, The Ferryman, The Reaper, The Gray Man upon his Gray Horse. I am them, and they are me. From the first heartbeat to the last, all walk hand-in-hand with me."

Giratina leans in so close that a single, man-sized eye takes up all of Lee's vision.

"So too have I walked with you, Lee Henson. I know all that can be known about you, and you were not outstanding. You were not my first choice."

'What?' Lee blinks once more, shock rendering him mute. His stomach swirls with emotions, and he's upset that one is disappointment. One bomb after another, yet still… He looks down at his hands.

They're shaking, but the adrenaline isn't there.

"You dare!" Ninetales snarls, anger returning her voice to her. Her fear forgotten, she glares into Giratina's eyes with pure affront. "After the trials my trainer has endured, at your hand no less, you dare insult him like that? Lee is the very definition of an outstanding human! What is your game, fiend? Speak!"

Giratina turns a cool eye to the bristling fox.

"Quiet."

Just like that, it's as if Nine's jaws are glued shut. Try as she might to speak, her mouth simply won't move. She bares her teeth, but they don't part.

"Mistake not my words as insults. They are merely facts."

"If I wasn't your first choice…" Lee murmurs, looking down at his boots and the dark floor below as he grapples with the reveal. "Why pick me, then?"

Giratina backs away slightly, so it can stare at him with both eyes.

"You were what was available when the point of no return was determined, when an acceptable crossroads of circumstance was stumbled upon. Mine hand was stayed, perhaps too long. The Plan could not suffer an overcorrection, necessitating a gamble."

Giratina's voice drops, but Lee doesn't mistake the quieter tone with gentleness. He's not sure the being before him is capable of such.

"The Ideal is one who performs with no aid. Without an Ideal, you presented an opportunity. You would have to make do."

Lee gulps, his mind whirling. "Did anything I do, has anything I've done mattered? Is it all just fate that you laid out for me?"

Meeting his friends, meeting his pokemon, fighting Magma and Aqua…

Is it all predetermined? Do his choices even matter? Or is it all set in stone?

Then, an even more horrifying thought comes to him. "Did Ninetales even get a say on whether she would like me or not?"

"Lee!" Ninetales turns to him, aghast. In a flash, he's wrapped in golden tails that hug him tight. "My choice to love you is one all my own! Never say such a thing again!"

The sudden, intense surge of raw yet firm adoration that pours from Ninetales into him warms Lee to the core, eating the cold within his chest and limbs like it was never there. If he were to hold her any tighter, they might well fuse.

Giratina twists in a way that makes Lee's eyes hurt.

"Fate? Nay, I write no such thing, for fate bends like a reed in the winds of change. All who wield Will, Emotion, and Knowledge throw fate to and fro with their wingbeats. I control naught."

"It is for this reason you were a gamble…"

Giratina's eyes narrow, casting a fell red light.

Then the cloying dark is broken by a single thin ray, shining down above.

Lee looks up, wincing as the bright mote cuts through the space and stings his eyes.

"…One whose success exceeds all expectations. The Plan lurches forward ahead of schedule. Could you be the ones?"

The lights above grow more intense, more beams of sun banishing the cold and gloom. Everything slowly grows brighter, and Lee looks down at his hands.

His immaterial body is beginning to fade, and real sensation slowly returns, as his fingers and toes prickle with phantom needles. Likewise, he feels the same sensation in nine phantom tails not his own.

"Even upon sacred ground, where boundaries are thin, we've little time to speak."

Giratina slinks backwards, away from the light that beats down onto Lee and Ninetales, forming a round pillar.

"Your journey began in the early morn, and now the noon sun shines."

"Wait!" Ninetales cries, frantically looking between her now-phantasmal legs and the shadow looming above. "What is this 'plan' you keep speaking of, and how do we fit in?"

"March forward, and fear not the dark of the night to come."

Lee tries to repeat Nine's question, to ask more of his own, but nothing comes from his mouth.

The light is blinding now. Its warmth is burning.

"A fitting reward for One awaits the next day."

Everything goes white.

"-e do something? They've been out for like an hour."

"Meditation sometimes takes time. We should just wait for - Hey! They're moving!"

Lee cracks his eyes open with a grimace, finding the light reflecting off of the lake in the Meteor Falls crater to be unusually harsh. Not only that, his back is stiff and his forehead is sweaty.

'I was just sitting forehead-to-forehead with Ninetales for an hour, apparently.' He grunts and pulls away from Ninetales to stand.

Ninetales, meanwhile, takes a little longer to stand. Like Lee, she blinks her eyes until they adjust to the sunlight streaming in from above, and does a full-body stretch.

"So! Details!" Zinnia wastes no time stepping away from Brendan and Latias and into Lee's personal space, a grin on her face. "What did you see? Was it some kinda Psychic? A Ghost? Some kinda pokemon crying for help through the dream world?"

Lee doesn't answer right away, still digesting everything himself. He looks up, at the sun peering down through the entrance of the crater.

'Began in the morning, and now it's noon. Was that literal, or metaphorical? For all the answers we got, every question answered was replaced with yet another question.'

Ninetales huffs as she shakes herself awake and takes her usual place on his right. 'Metaphorical, certainly. How to interpret it is anyone's guess, however.' A beat passes, and the fox continues. 'We should keep what we saw to ourselves. The story of Earth and its demise is one thing, but this is… Of a magnitude somehow greater. Even now, I wonder if it was real, or simply the most vivid dream to ever be had.'

'Brendan and Zinnia are trustworthy, though. We told them about me, about Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza. Is this really that much bigger?'

'I believe that it's less about trustworthiness, and more of safety, Beloved.' Nine noses his hand and looks up at him with her bright red eyes. 'Giratina, if that was Giratina, is…' She pauses and shivers lightly, leaning into his side, memories of the cold and dark, not unlike The End tripping her. '...Something else. If such a secret were to leak…'

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Lee sighs. 'I still disagree, but we'll keep it to ourselves for now and talk about this another time, okay?'

The vixen isn't pleased by the reply, but nonetheless nods.

Lee looks back down to Zinnia's eager face and smiles thinly. "What we saw was… personal. Can we talk about it some other time?"

The Draconid looks a little put out, while Brendan, who stands behind her, crosses his arms and nods.

"Okay…" Zinnia agrees after a second, but she does lean forward and poke Lee's chest with a finger. "If you wanna talk or need help, say something, okay? We trust you to speak if we need to know," she says, giving her best stern expression.

"We will," Lee replies with a smile. "Anyway, before this we were… We…" He blinks, finding his plans for today a little muddled in his head. "Ah, I guess that took more out of me than I expected. What were we doing today?"

"Packing," Brendan helpfully supplies, stepping closer with Latias hovering at his side. "Then we were going to fly to Petalburg tomorrow."

Lee snaps his fingers as everything comes back to him. "Right, right, let's get on with it. The earlier we get up and fly, the faster we get cell signal. The faster we get a signal, the faster we can book our matches at the Petalburg gym."

That puts an eager grin on the boy's face. "C'mon, Latias!" He turns and runs back to the hut. "We gotta pack, then run back to the village and pick up Marshtomp!"

Latias croons in agreement and follows behind, flying hot on Brendan's heels.

"Heh." Zinnia watches the pair go fondly. "He's gonna change his tune when his dad blows up his phone over catching a legend."

"I'm just glad it's not me giving Nigel conniptions for once," Lee comments.

'You and Brendan are nothing. One has to wonder if Professor Oak has a pacemaker yet, what with Ash Ketchum's record.' Nine smirks, projecting her mental voice so Zinnia can hear.

As one, Lee, Zinnia, and Ninetales start the walk back to the hut to pack up their own things, and as they do, another conversation passes between Lee and his fox.

'Nine, about what Giratina said…'

'Hmm?'

'Does it bother you at all? How you were born? We finally know how, and…' Lee mentally trails off. 'I know it bothers me. It's confirmation that you were…'

Made as a gift.

Given no choice.

There are numerous reasons why Giratina's words left Lee with buzzing, uncertain thoughts, but anything that could harm Ninetales concerns him above all else.

The man feels Ninetales' emotions swirl in her chest. Frustration, a little uncertainty, and other things, but it eventually calms and Ninetales shakes her head. 'No. I won't let it affect me, nor how I live,' she finally says, her mental voice resolute.

The vixen looks up at him, and her eyes are so intense it almost stops him in his tracks. 'I meant what I said in Lavaridge. I care not what force spawned me; I've decided my own course, and that course is one at your side. Banish any doubts about my love for you, for I know it's real, just as yours is for me. This is what I want.'

Lee knows he'll choke up if he tries to speak amid the tide of emotion flowing from Ninetales, and so all he can do is stroke her between the ears with an unsteady hand.

'It's also comforting, in an odd way,' Ninetales continues, looking up and opening the door of the hut with a flare of her telekinesis. 'To know the purpose of my birth and the purpose I have chosen for myself are one and the same. To love and be loved; a splendid existence, no?'

'Yeah, I suppose so.' Lee tries to smile, but it doesn't quite make it.

You were not my first choice.

You were a gamble.

Could you be the ones?

A fitting reward for One awaits the next day.

There will be little sleep to be had tonight.

For the entire next morning, Lee is glazed-eyed, running on autopilot as he goes about his routine of bathing, getting dressed, and making breakfast for everyone, having slept poorly and still pondering the encounter from the previous day.

'What went off the rails and forced Giratina to do everything that it did? Magma and Aqua?'

'What is The Plan? How do we fit into it?'

'A fitting reward for One, with emphasis on One. What does that mean?'

It's all left the man unusually grumpy, and it must be showing on his face, because everyone but his own pokemon give him a wide berth.

As the sun rises just high enough to peek into the Meteorfall Crater, everyone is packed and ready, standing outside the hut for the last time by their respective mounts as they make their final pre-flight checks.

"You sure that you want to ride Latias to Petalburg, Brendan?" Zinnia asks from Salamence's back with a raised eyebrow, both her and Salamence watching Brendan adjust one of the saddle straps on the jet-like dragon. "You're going to catch a lot of eyes, even with Salamence and Corviknight there."

"Everyone is going to find out about Latias eventually," Brendan says back with a confident smile. "We wanna do it on our own terms, right girl?" he asks, directing his question to Latias.

The red dragon smiles bashfully and nods her head with a low croon.

"Just be sure to get your dad on the horn as soon as you can so Monty can run damage control online," Lee mutters just loud enough for everyone to hear. He clambers up onto Corviknight's back and gets comfortable in the saddle after finishing his own last checks. "You're going to set Battlenet on fire once we land."

Both Brendan and Zinnia look at each other, then back to Lee. "You sure you don't want to hold off and take a nap or something, Lee?" Zinnia asks, looking not into his eyes, but rather at the bags under them. "We're fine with waiting."

Beneath him, Corviknight clicks his beak and looks over his shoulder at Lee, tossing his own concern into the ring.

Nothing needs to be said for Nine. Lee can feel her opinion on the matter just fine.

Lee waves them off and takes a deep breath. "I'm fine," he says, hiding a yawn as he takes his radio headset from its saddle pocket and dons it. "I slept a little rough, but a good flight will wake me up. If I'm still tired, I'll crash at the hotel in Petalburg."

"'Crash' isn't the word I'd use when we're about to go flying, Dolittle," Zinnia snickers, but nonetheless lets it go. "Don't conk out and fall, or I'll have Salamence carry you in his teeth!"

The dragon smirks and snaps his jaws for emphasis. The sound of his maw closing is like a steel trap going off.

Brendan finishes adjusting Latias' saddle and mounts up. Compared to the first time he flew, the boy looks much less green around the gills as Latias smoothly ascends into the air.

Salamence spreads his wings eagerly and takes to the air with one flap, flattening and uprooting some of the hardy shrubs on the crater floor in his excitement to fly. He and Zinnia overtake Latias, taking point in their three-unit formation.

Lee smiles as Corvi follows suit, his black wings sending Lee's stomach to his toes with just one wingbeat. The ground rushes away, and the cool air washes over them both, chasing away the funk that had its claws sunk into him.

'Flying will never get old.'

With Salamence in the lead, Latias in the middle, and Corviknight bringing up the rear, they all rise up and out of the crater and past the nesting dragons on the face of the plateau, none daring to accost Latias or Salamence. Several of them give Corviknight considering looks, but ultimately none cause problems.

Leveling out under the overcast of clouds, the trio turn south and start their trip in earnest. At Salamence's leisurely pace, it'd be a few hours to Petalburg.

Before long, Lee's thoughts turn back to the previous day, and the meeting in that dark place with that dark thing. 'Not his first choice… I never thought myself special, but…'

Hearing such a thing still stung.

'If Giratina went with his first choice, would they have gotten Nine? Or another pokemon? Would things have turned out better? What sort of 'opportunity crossroad' let Giratina revive me?'

'Lee, enough!'

Startled out of his thoughts, Lee turns his head to his belted pokeballs, where Nine's vibrates. Even without telepathy, her irritation would be obvious.

'Worry not about 'what if' for now, Beloved,' Ninetales continues, her tone softening. 'Such thoughts are poison. We've time to ponder later. For now, let us relax. We've been through much, and some respite will do us all well.'

'Nine, we were given literal divine guidance! Don't you think we should treat this, you know, seriously?'

'We should,' Nine agrees easily. 'However, you do no one any favors by letting yourself become stressed out. I'm not telling you to forget all that we heard, I am only saying we should pace ourselves. We've trained long and hard these last few weeks, and I believe the fruits of our labors will see us through the trials ahead. Worry not…'

Across Lee's neck and cheek, warm, phantom fur eases the tension in his shoulders with its touch.

'We are together, and together, no challenge is too great.'

On reflex, Lee almost pulls Ninetales' mind into his for an embrace, but stops short. Even with the saddle straps holding his legs in place, going blissfully catatonic mid-flight would be a poor idea.

'You're right, as usual.' Lee smiles to himself. 'Later, then.'

'Later,' the fox agrees happily.

The conversation slips into idle chatter between them, about the remaining gyms, about the buzz Brendan is going to be wound up in, and about other little things. Eventually, Ninetales excuses herself for a nap and goes quiet, leaving Lee to his thoughts once more. The lack of invigorating Dragon TE in the air leaves him feeling a bit lethargic, and he wishes he could sleep like Ninetales, but alas, that will have to wait until he's not being battered by the wind thousands of feet in the air.

Looking up at the clouds, he goes back to last night, before bed.

As the sun sets, bathing the crater in dark, Lee and Ninetales find themselves outside the hut and in the company of the largest dragon they have ever seen.

"How are you doing, Sala?"

Cracking open an irritated eye, Sala raises his head, only needing to do so halfway before he's level with Lee. The great dragon grumbles something, his growl rumbling the ground enough to make Lee's bones vibrate.

'He says he'll be leaving tomorrow morning to return to his "post",' Ninetales provides, giving Sala a sidelong glance. 'I'm assuming he means Aster's grave.'

"I see…" Lee murmurs. "It must be lonely up there, don't you reckon, Sala?"

Sala huffs and lowers his head again.

'I would be more lonely being away from her,' Nine translates, her telepathic voice tinged with melancholy.

Lee is treated to Ninetales' second hand imaginings of herself in Sala's place, and he puts a hand on her head to forestall the chill that wants to overtake her.

"Sala?" Lee begins quietly. "How did it happen?"

The dragon's eyes snap open and stare holes into Lee's head. Immediately, the temperature around them rises several degrees.

"I'm not asking to try and hurt you," Lee is quick to add, meeting Sala's stare with one of his own. It's tough to not fidget under the dragon's hostile glare. "I don't want the same fate to befall us, or Brendan, or Zinnia and your son."

At the mention of Zinnia and the younger Salamence, Sala's ire cools, and the giant dragon sags with a tired sigh. He looks at the ground, his eyes searching for something only he can see, then he grumbles once more, letting out sounds akin to tumbling rocks.

'Balance and control, we lacked both,' Ninetales begins, feeding Sala's words to Lee. 'We were foolish and reckless. I took too much, and my Aster controlled too little. In the euphoria that blinded me, I did not see the peril she was in until it was too late. I consumed that which gave her life like a bird might an insect, whole and unthinkingly.'

Sala's growls turn borderline hostile once more, his burning gaze sweeping across both of them.

'You

Lee simply smiles, unbothered by the threat. "I promise."

Sala snorts, then goes to close his eyes once more.

"Sala, one more thing."

Jets of annoyed flame shoot from the Salamence's nostrils, turning twin patches of grass to ash, but he gives Lee his attention.

"I know we probably have differing opinions on this, but should you be wasting away by Aster's grave?"

The dragon's eyes narrow dangerously, warning Lee to pick his words carefully.

"Is it what she would want, is what I mean," Lee says, looking down at Ninetales, who is watching Sala warily. "Aster sounded like a selfless woman, the best sort. Would she want you wasting away like you've been?"

The anger drains out of Sala's visage, replaced once more with a deep weariness. 'I don't expect you to understand, and I hope you never do,' Ninetales interprets once more. 'She would not wish this upon me, no, but to even speak to you draws on strength I do not have. I shall wait at her side until we are together once more.'

Lee looks down at the dragon, no longer seeing him as a titanic force, but as the poor, broken-hearted pokemon he truly is. "Are you sure, Sala? You won't even try?" An idea strikes Lee, and without hesitation, he springs it. "Zinnia has an open spot on her team roster, and I have a seventh slot. If you want, you can come with us, with Zinnia and your son. Don't worry about battling or anything, none of us will-"

'No,' Sala cuts Lee off with a growl. 'I don't care to traipse around a land we saw together and be reminded of what I've lost. Zinnia was chosen by my Aster, and has my faith, as does my prodigy hatchling. You needn't my power, either, as your triumph over me proves. I have chosen my own fate, and I will not be swayed."

"But-"

Sala closes his eyes, dismissing them both. 'Goodbye, Lee Henson and Ninetales. I've nothing left to say.'

When they re-emerge from the hut in the morning, Sala is gone.

'He would not be convinced by any argument, Beloved. Remember what I said about needlessly asking yourself 'what if?'

Ninetales' voice in his skull pulls Lee from his trip down memory lane. He blinks, finding his eyes dry. 'Nine? I thought you were napping?'

'I have been for nearly two hours,' the fox comments dryly. 'You've been deep in thought for quite some time.'

Lee checks the clock built into Corvi's saddle and feels his eyebrows rise. "Huh, would you look at that? Two hours gone."

It's just then that his radio crackles. "This is Kickass Actual to Kiddo and Dolittle. Come in, Kiddo and Dolittle!" Zinnia calls from the head of the pack.

"Those aren't our callsigns," Brendan says, his amusement plain in his voice. "And if you're Kickass Actual, shouldn't we be Kickass 1 and Kickass 2?"

"Shush!"

Rolling his eyes, Lee brings a hand up to his headset. "Lee here. What's up?" he asks over the wind.

"We're closing in on Petalburg," Zinnia sends back. "If you've got any second thoughts on riding Latias into town, Brendan, now is the time to land and hop on with me or Lee. We'll be over Petalburg in five minutes."

Lee watches Brendan shift on Latias' saddle, evidently thinking his decision over.

"Nah. I'm not going to hide Latias like she's some collectible that I'm scared of getting snatched. It's better to be confident."

"Ha!" Zinnia sounds positively tickled by the reply. "Alright then. Wanna touch down in front of the gym then if you're so confident?"

"I'm all for it. Lee?"

There's an anxious prickle in Lee's skin at the thought of so much attention, but he ignores it. 'We can't really go back to being unknown, so I guess loud and proud is the name of the game going forward,' he thinks, nodding slowly to himself. "If you're so eager to finally have a megathread on Battlenet, Brendan, then why not? I spaced out and forgot to book my match online, anyway."

"Shoot! I knew I was forgetting something!" Brendan laments over the radio. The boy takes his phone from his pocket on Latias' saddle, being extra careful to not drop it, and Lee watches him double take at the device. "Ten missed calls from Dad… Uh oh."

Zinnia openly cackles over the radio.

As Brendan sorts out that family mess, the trio and their mounts advance on Petalburg. In only a few minutes, the city comes into view, and Zinnia busies herself alerting air traffic control of their presence. "ATC! Three coming in!"

"Petalburg Control here. Ma'am, please use the correct ID and nomenclature for official comms…"

Looking down, Lee takes in the city as they ride its western flank.

When they passed through Petalburg on the way to Rustboro all those months ago, the group didn't even bother to stay the night, opting to instead beeline for the famous Petalburg Woods, where they would fatefully meet Corvisquire and Treecko — now Corviknight and Sceptile. From above, the city isn't the sprawl of Mauville or as bustling as Slateport, but neither is it as small as the nearby Oldale or Littleroot.

Much like the town of Verdanturf, Petalburg hasn't fought the surrounding nature at all, instead smoothly inserting itself into the natural world. The city is filled with trees and greenery, with a host of footpaths weaving between and alongside the roads.

'Besides the Gym and the nature, what else did Petalburg have going on?' Lee struggles to remember. 'Maybe the Gym is all there is?'

Ahead, Salamence banks and begins descending, and in response, both Lee and Brendan take the controls on their saddles and have their respective pokemon tighten up their formation, lest they lack the room to land on the street.

As Lee expected, as they get closer to the ground, fingers begin to point up at them from the people below with cellphone cameras in the mix. Along with the fingers and cameras are expressions of confusion, ones aimed mostly at a certain red dragon with a boy astride her back.

For every four or five confused people below, though, there is one shocked one.

The Gym comes into view, and with a deep roar, Salamence startles the people loitering around the entrance into scattering, giving them ample room to land side-by-side.

Zinnia and Salamence touch down first, rumbling the ground and putting a few cracks in the asphalt as it buckles under the dragon's bulk. Salamence's head is held high as Zinnia jumps off his back with a grin. Neither of them bother to give the whispering bystanders any attention.

Brendan and Latias are next, gently floating down in contrast to Salamence's careless landing. Latias makes no noise as she hovers, then lowers herself so Brendan can easily slide off of her. The poor dragon shakes with so many unfamiliar eyes on her, however.

"Thanks for the comfy ride, Lati." Brendan smiles and pulls Latias into a one-armed hug. "You're the best!"

Latias looks away bashfully, her nerves forgotten.

Finally, Lee and Corvi land on Brendan and Latias' other side with barely a scrape of his talons on the road. Neither under nor overstated, Corvi looks positively regal, in Lee's opinion.

Climbing off of Corvi, Lee smiles and gives his raven a pat on his armored breastplate. "Thank you, Corvi."

Lee gets a single, cool nod in return. 'Ha. I have no idea how he makes such a laid-back gesture seem so dramatic.' He then casts a glance around the street, taking in the people around with a little trepidation. 'Looks like a huge Corviknight, the native pseudo-legend, and a full-on legend isn't something you see everyday, eh?'

Being the troublemaking fox that she is, Ninetales takes that moment to burst free from her pokeball. In a flash of light, she's at Lee's side with a self-satisfied smirk on her face. 'It's like they've never seen interesting pokemon before,' she agrees, mischief in each word as another round of whispers break out.

Lee can only sigh and flick one of her ears, earning him a retaliatory bite to his pinky.

As one, Lee, Brendan, and Zinnia each return their fliers to their balls and walk into the Gym lobby, trading the hushed street for a room shocked silent.

Smiling gently, Lee takes point and walks up to the gobsmacked teller at the counter. "Hello. We'd like to register for the next two available Gym slots, please."